﻿”A strong, credible body of scientific evidence shows that climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems…. Some scientific conclusions or theories have been so thoroughly examined and tested, and supported by so many independent observations and results, that their likelihood of subsequently being found to be wrong is vanishingly small. Such conclusions and theories are then regarded as settled facts. This is the case for the conclusions that the Earth system is warming and that much of this warming is very likely due to human activities.”

Enter Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) who has a history of getting the science wrong. On three occasions (Feb 4, 2010, March 10, 2010, and Feb 17, 2011), Rep. Rohrabacher has entered into the Congressional record an open letter signed by over 100 scientists and published as a full page ad in the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Washington Times, and Los Angeles Times. The letter was addressed to the President of the United States and flies in the face of the scientific understanding of climate change. The letter can be viewed here.

The letter contained 115 signatures and made the following assertions:

The case for alarm regarding climate change is grossly overstated

Characterization of the scientific facts regarding climate change and the degree of certainty informing the scientific debate is simply incorrect

Surface temperature changes over the past century have been episodic and modest

So who were these scientists and are they qualified to sign this letter? (Item #4 is an automatic disqualifier in my book because any legitimate expert should know that a decade cannot be used to refute the underlying climate trend. This claim is especially absurd given that the past three decades have been the warmest in the instrumental record!)

Journal database search tools (SCOPUS, Academic Search Premier, Science Direct, and Google Scholar) were used to examine the publications which have relevance to climate science from all of these individuals. Only papers published between Jan 1, 2006 and the present were considered. Work prior to that can hardly make assertions on global warming ‘for over a decade'; more generally, there has been an explosion of knowledge about the Earth’s climate system in these last 5 1/2 years. Total post-2005 publications are listed in the column below titled Climate Papers. (Note: Energy & Environment publications were not included nor were conference papers. 1/2 point was given to a paper that was only marginally related to climate science.)

The result: Only nine of these 115 (8%) have published recent research which give evidence that they have some expertise in at least one of areas 3, 4, or 5. These nine are highlighted below in bolded red. NONE have expertise in all three of these areas. Worse, more than 2/3 of the signers have NO RECENT PAPERS related to climate yet they felt qualified to sign a letter addressed to the President of the United States to tell him he is wrong and the science is wrong – the arrogance!

Some of the other 106 scientists have studied various environmental aspects of climate change on lakes or forests, or the climate during prehistoric times, but with no expertise bearing on items 3,4,and 5. Many of the 115 are not themselves scientists in any meaningful sense, though they may have written opinion pieces in various places. This is not to say that there are not distinguished scientists among the remainder:

Dr. Ivar Giaever is a Nobel Laureate of 1973 in Physics. This was awarded jointly to Dr. Giaver, Leo Esaki, and Brian Josephson for work in “tunneling” effects in solid physics. This has no connection with climate science and Dr. Giaver’s interests turned to biophysics and he has no record at all of work related to climate science nor is he active in research.

Dr. Wil Happer is a distinguished physicist at Princeton and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Although he has testified before Congress concerning climate science, his expertise is given on his web page as follows: We’re a small research group investigating the fundamental interactions between atoms, molecules and light. More specifically, we’re interested in the mechanisms that limit the performance of optical pumping systems, such as atomic clocks, magnetometers, and laser guide-star adaptive optics systems. Our projects are all tabletop experiments involving lasers and warm vapor cells. This hardly qualifies him as an expert on climate science.

Dr. Ian D. Clark is a productive active researcher in chemical geography, but an examination of his 21 publications shows that none of them have any direct relevance to items 3, 4, or 5.

It is my opinion that by any reasonable standard, the collective judgment of the 116 individuals who signed this letter cannot be compared with the judgment of the panels who contributed to the recent series of National Academy of Sciences reports on these matters. If Congress wants informed, competent advice on these matters they should study these reports and call as witnesses those who contributed to them.

Not surprisingly, Rep. Rohrabacher’s letter is merely a paper tiger.

Last Name

First, Init

Degree

Affiliation

Climate Papers

Lupo

Anthony, R.

PhD

Univ. of Missouri

12

Humlum

Ole

PhD

Univ. of Oslo

10

Lindzen

Richard S.

PhD

MIT

10

Tonni

Eduardo P.

PhD

Museo De La Plata, (Argentina)

8

Leavitt

Peter R.

PhD

University of Regina

7.5

Douglass

David, H

PhD

Univ. Rochester

6

Legates

David R.

PhD

Univ. of Delaware

5.5

Khandekar

Madhav

PhD

Climate Consultant Markham

5

Gray

William M.

PhD

Colorado State Univ.

4

Malmgren

Bjorn

PhD

Goteburg University (emeritus)

4

Spencer

Roy W

PhD

Univ. Alabama, Huntsville

4

Taylor

George H.

MS

former Oregon State Climatologist

3.5

Herman

Ben

PhD

Univ. of Arizona (retired)

3

Kramm

Gerhard

PhD

Univ. Alaska

2.5

Ridd

Peter

PhD

James Cook Univ, Aust.

2.5

Akasofu

Syun

PhD

Univ. Alaska Faribanks

2

Armstrong

J. Scott

PhD

University of Pennsylvania

2

Copper

Paul

PhD

Laurentian Univ. (emeritus)

2

Essex

Christopher

PhD

Univ. Western Ontario

2

Gerhard

Lee C

PhD

Kansas Geologist

2

Gerlich

Gerhard

PhD

Technische Universitat Braunschweig

2

Karlen

Wibjorn

PhD

Stockholm University

2

Kauffman

Joel

PhD

Univ. Sci. Philadelphia

2

Michaels

Patrick, J.

PhD

Univ. of Virginia

2

Morner

Nils-axel

PhD

Stockholm University

2

Ollier

Cliff D

Dsci

Univ. Western Aust.

2

Paltridge

Garth W

PhD

Univ. Tasmania

2

Ashworth

Robert A

Clearstack LLC

1

Essenhigh

Robert H

PhD

Ohio State

1

Hertzberg

Martin

PhD

US Navy (retired)

1

Idso

Craig, D.

PhD

Center For The Study Of Carbon Dioxide And Global Change

1

Idso

Sherwood, B.

PhD

U.S. Dept of Agriculture (retired)

1

Lins

Harry F.

PhD

USGS-IPCC Hydrology & Water Resources

1

Moene

Asmunn

PhD

Former Head, Forecasting Center, Meteorological Institute, Norway

1

Morgan

Richard

PhD

Exeter Univ.

1

Tscheuschner

Ralf, D.

PhD

1

Walin

Gosta

PhD

University Of Gothenburg, (emeritus)

1

Anderson

Arthur G

PhD

IBM

0

Anderson

Charles R

Phd

Anderson Materials Evaluation

0

Baht

Ismail

PhD

Univ. Kashmir

0

Barton

Colin

CSIRO

0

Bellamy

David J

0

Blaylock

John

-

Los Alamos National Lab (retired)

0

Blick

Edward F.

PhD

Univ. Oklahoma (emer)

0

Boehmer-Christiansen

Sonja

PhD

Univ. of Hull

0

Breck

Bob

BS

TV Weatherman, Fox, New Orleans

0

Brignell

John

PhD

Univ. Southampton (emeritus)

0

Campbell

Mark L.

PhD

Dept. of Chem. U.S. Naval Academy

0

Carter

Robert M.

PhD

James Cook Univ, Aust.

0

Clark

Ian D.

PhD

Earth Sciences, Univ. Ottawa, Canada

0

Cohen

Roger W.

PhD

Fellow, APS; Global Thermostat LLD

0

Corbyn

Piers

MS

Weather Action

0

Courtney

Richard, S.

PhD

Consultant

0

Crescenti

Uberto

PhD

Past-President, Italian Geol Society

0

Crockford

Susan

PhD

University of Victoria

0

D’aleo

Joseph, S.

MS

Fellow, AMS

0

Demeo

James

PhD

Univ. of Kansas (retired)

0

Deming

David

PhD

Univ. of Oklahoma

0

Douglas

Diane

PhD

URS Corporation

0

Ferguson

John K

PhD

Univ. Newcastle

0

Ferreyra

Eduardo

Argentinian Foundation For A Scientific Ecology

0

Fox

Michael R

Phd

American Nuclear Society

0

Fulks

Gordon

PhD

Gordon Fulks and Assoc.

0

Giaever

Ivar

PhD

Rennselear Emeritus

0

Glatzle

Albrecht

PhD

Sci. Director, Inttas, Paraguay

0

Goodfellow

Wayne

PhD

Univ. of Ottawa

0

Goodridge

James

-

Univ Alabama Emer; Cal State Climogist

0

Gould

Laurence

PhD

Univ. Hartford

0

Gray

Vincent

PhD

New Zealand Climate Coalition

0

Green

Kenneth

D.Env.

Americn Enterprise Institute

0

Green

Kesten

PhD

Monash

0

Happer

Will

PhD

Princeton

0

Hayden

Howard, C.

PhD

Univ. of Connecticut (retired)

0

Hoffman

Doug

PhD

Adjunct prof, U Central Arkansas

0

Huettner

Bernd

0

Hutton

A. Neil

Past President, Canadian Soc. of Petrol. Geologists

0

Itoh

Kiminori

PhD

Yokohama National University

0

Japar

Stephen, M

PhD

Ford Research Laboratory

0

Kaijser

Sten

PhD

Uppsala

0

Kear

David

PhD

0

Keen

Richard A

PhD

Univ. Colorado

0

Kemm

Kelvin

PhD

0

Knox

Robert S

Phd

Univ. Rochester

0

Koermer

James P

PhD

Plymouth University

0

Kraus

Wayne

PhD

Univ Oklahoma, Emeritus

0

Kvalheim

Olav

PhD

Univ. Bergen

0

Larsen

Roar

PhD

Univ. Science & Technology

0

Lea

James F.

PhD

PL Tech LLC

0

Leahey

Douglas

PhD

Jacques Whitford LTD, Monction, Canada

0

Maccabee

Howard

PhD

Stanford Medical School

0

Malberg

Horst

PhD

Free University of Berlin

0

Marohasy

Jennifer

PhD

Australian Environment Foundation

0

Marusek

James

US Navy (retired)

0

McKitrick

Ross

PhD

University Of Guelph

0

Minnich

Timmothy, R.

MS

Minnich And Scotto, Inc.

0

Monce

Michael

PhD

Connecticut Coll.

0

Nowell

David

Msci

Nato Meteorology Canada

0

Peckarek

Alfred

PhD

St. Cloud State Univ.

0

Perkins

Robert A

PE

Univ. Alaska

0

Plimer

Ian R

PhD

Univ. Melbourne

0

Pratt

Brian R

Phd

Univ. Saskatchewan

0

Reinhard

John

PhD

Epix Pharmaceuticals

0

Rose

Curt

PhD

Bishop’s Univ. Quebec, emer.

0

Salonius

Peter

Msc

Canadian Forest Service

0

Sharp

Gary

PhD

Center For Ocean/Climate Resources

0

Sheahan

Thomas P.

PhD

Western Technologies, Inc

0

Simmons

Allen

Author

0

Super

Arline

PhD

Retired Research Met; US Dept. Reclam

0

Uriarte

Anton

PhD

Universidad Del Pais Vasco

0

Valentine

Brian

PhD

U.S. Department Of Energy

0

Weber

Gerd-Rainer

PhD

0

Wezel

Forese-Carlo

PhD

Urbino University

0

Wimberley

Edward T.

PhD

Florida Gulf Coast University

0

Zagoni

Miklos

PhD

Central Res Inst for Physics, Budapest

0

Zichichi

Antonio

PhD

President, World Federation Of Scientists

0

(For some perspective, NASA’s Dr. Gavin Schmidt has over 50 climate papers published since 2006, many of which directly relate to items 3, 4, and 5).

I appreciate the offer but it is unnecessary and very time-intensive. You will notice many of the same names on the various petitions. Most of these signers have little to no credibility while those that actually do the research have many, many publications to support their conclusions.

(Item #4 is an automatic disqualifier in my book because any legitimate expert should know that a decade cannot be used to refute the underlying climate trend. This claim is especially absurd given that the past three decades have been the warmest in the instrumental record!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I was disappointed by the incompleteness of the above answer:
Claiming the past decade showed no upward trend is ignoring that the claim was made on the basis of Surface Sea Temperatures, consisting of the statical trick of picking one freakish extreme temperature event as its starting point and ignoring the preceding trend.

It also ignores that heat has continued to accumulate within the oceans.
~ ~ ~
For more detailed information visit:
SkepticalScience.com

“3 levels of cherry picking in a single argument”
“Did global warming stop in 1998?”
among other informative articles

[…] Of the seven authors of the Cato Counterfeit Report only five have any publications and two have dubious backgrounds. There really is no comparison between the authors of the real report from USGCRP and the authors of the fake report. (Cato Institute has a history of documents with few real experts named. See: Congressman Rohrabacher’s Paper Tiger.) […]